Would love to see some renderings ideas for this home. Thanks.

I was wanting to paint the entire house. Any color ideas?

Are you thinking about one of the two colors currently on the new dormer? And when you say you want to paint the entire house, do you mean you’re including the brick, or do you intend to match the windows and trim to the dormer and leave the brick unpainted?

Bumping to move your dilemma up in the queue

NancyD, the siding on the new dormer was supposed to be unfinished so they could be painted. Instead there were some finished boards shipped and put up by mistake. I was wanting to also paint the brick. It’s not a pretty brick. I’m just not sure how to tie it all together. The porch also needs work. Maybe new columns.

I’m not as adept as some with creating an image of how your home might look all painted, but this is using ColorSnap, an app to help you visualize. Certainly one color would unify the look, and the color choice is yours. Are we looking at the front of your house? I agree that replacing the wrought iron with wood would improve those columns.

Thanks for all the advice. I never noticed how heavy the porch roof is. Was thinking of maybe putting a metal roof on and adding white pillars.

I agree with removing the entry way roof. I think landscaping would also help. Some larger greenery with a seasonal bloom between the two front windows would look lovely. Regardless the paint color you select.

I agree that your brick is not pretty. Unlike the pretty patterned brick that Patricia showed, it's just a flat solid colour.

I'd make the brick and the shakes the same dark colour. For the brick, be sure to use a product such as Romabio which will ensure that you don't have maintenance issues down the road. Don't just use regular exterior paint. Choose a colour that looks good with your roof. A dark colour will contrast nicely with your white windows. Maybe a dark gray. I think the house would look choppy if the brick as left it is with a different colour up top.

Be sure to paint the downspout the same as the brick.

Landscaping will make a big difference. I think that with proper landscaping you can balance the porch roof and don't need to make any changes except maybe change the columns if you like. Put something tall at the left corner, and also in the middle between the 2 windows. The bed should be at least 5 feet deep so the big shrubs don't touch the house at maturity.

Thanks everyone. I appreciate all the advice.

Would painting the brick and adding stone veneer at the bottom look good?

Charcoal for the brick and cedar stain for the shake dormer and the new entry porch. It won't look exactly like either of these but you can get a great looking house!

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Some of the cedar shakes are finished. I'd be concerned that they would look different than the unfinished ones if you decide to stain rather than paint.

Partim, yes that would have looked good if the shakes had all been unfinished. Thanks.

https://www.hunker.com/13416926/how-to-paint-hardie-board-siding-to-look-like-real-cedar

You might use paint instead of stain.

I would not add stone veneer to the bottom. Too many materials. You run the risk of a "layer cake" look. If you decide not to paint the brick, I'd still use a dark gray on the shakes.

I know your original question dealt with colors, and you’ve gotten some additional recommendations re: windows, stain vs. paint, landscaping, etc. Is this the front of your house? If it is, I think you need to plan for more than just color and have a vision in mind. As Patricia Colwell suggested, a pergola would look attractive, rather than the shed roof, and I’ve attached a photo where you can see a two-tone house with a pergola that runs across the whole house. If you’ve shown the back of your house, perhaps you could simply remove the shed roof, enlarge the patio, and add bushes to the left. In any case, brick red is a color, and the bricks don’t need to be painted; just pick a light color for the dormer.

I don't think you need to change the roof over the porch. But you definitely need to add some substantial evergreen shrubs to balance the left side of the house with the "heavier" right side. Edge the bed with white flowers to tie in to the white trim.

I see that you have a wood fence to the side. If you want to change the porch posts, have them match the fence colour to bring some warm wood colours to the house. Add a chair or a bench on the porch in the same wood colour to tie it all together, or a wood door. Gray plus stained warm-tone wood is a nice look.

Yes this is the front of the house. With the landscaping I can also see how stone veneer would be a waste of money too. Would a metal roof on the porch look odd? Shutters?

I like the pergola look also. Is that a roof on the top of the pergola? If so that would make it more weather proof.

You might be able to make the brick more interesting without painting it. This is an example of the brick on the exterior of our house. i love the look and it requires no maintenance. I’m not sure how its done, but I think the white is cement, maybe. Perhaps you can search for methods to recreate a recycled brick look.

If you paint the top and bottom the same colour you will be moving to a more modern look. So no to shutters.

Some of the brick pictures shown here are very attractive, but are not the kind of brick you have. You have a plain, flat solid colour without any interesting variations. So even if you did something like the German schmear shown above, you would not get the look.

I don't think a metal roof would look that much different than what you have now. Not worth the expense and I don't think you want to draw attention to the porch roof. I would start with

- paint to tie the top and bottom of the house together,

- a deep bed with evergreen landscaping to add heft to the left side of the house. You need evergreens because they are solid-looking, not the lighter-looking deciduous shrubs that are bare-branched in the winter.

- white flowers at the front of the bed to tie the white trims, and to add some prettiness/lightness. A row of white ground cover annuals in front of the evergreens (e.g. impatiens or alyssum), or some very dwarf (12") shrubs such as Hydrangea Invincibelle Wee White

- and wood accents (posts, bench, maybe door) to contrast attractively with the gray and add a natural look.

If you're not satisfied you can always change the porch roof later if you want to.